Favorite animal/monster?

[Isis]

Do you like any of the animals or monsters you've read about in Greek mythology? Why did you like them?

I really like griffins, but more for aesthetic reasons than anything. I just think they look cool.

 

[Nadai]

I really like Cerberus. In the story or Orpheus' desent into Hades, Orpheus plays a song on his lyre to get Cerberus to sleep. Cerberus had a dream about his life before Pluto stole him away from his home. The dream and memory were so sweet that it made me see Cerberus less as a monster and more as an animal that is just misunderstood.
Also, though I hate bugs, I really like Arachne. She stood up to the gods by openly challenging Athena and proved that she was better. I thought it was a great story!... But I guess she wasn't an animal or monster, but bugs are pretty disgusting like monsters so...

 

[Myrddin]

I like Arachne, too. It's a good story.

Favourite animal or monster? Hmm... I do quite like Pegasus, the winged horse born of the sea foam. He'd definitely be up there as a favourite.

 

[Nadai]

I like Arachne, too. It's a good story.

Favourite animal or monster? Hmm... I do quite like Pegasus, the winged horse born of the sea foam. He'd definitely be up there as a favourite.

I always thought Pegasus was born from Neptune and Medusa. Didn't he jump from her body after Heracles took her head?

 

[Allie-Gator]

Ouch! I bet that hurt! I'm not sure where Pegasus came from. He is my favorite of all of the mythological creatures. I would love to have him to fly on!
Wouldn't you love to see the faces of the air traffic controllers if you circled the tower before you landed?

 

[Myrddin]

I always thought Pegasus was born from Neptune and Medusa. Didn't he jump from her body after Heracles took her head?

I think the story goes that when Perseus flew over the sea with Medusa's head in his hand, some of her blood dripped down onto the waves below from which Pegasus rode out.

 

[Nadai]

I think the story goes that when Perseus flew over the sea with Medusa's head in his hand, some of her blood dripped down onto the waves below from which Pegasus rode out.

Perseus! That's right. I think I was getting a couple stories mixed up
Myrddin to the rescue. Thanks

 

[Artemis]

Wherever Pegasus came from, I like him best among the animals in Greek mythology. Among the monsters, I don't have any favorites among the monsters, but I have some pity for the Minotaur that lived in the maze... or was that a Roman myth?

 

[Isis]

Nope, the Minotaur was featured in Greek mythology. Pasiphae, Minos' wife, bore the Minotaur after having sex with the Cretan Bull. Her actions were a punishment from the gods since Minos was supposed to slay the bull to honor Poseidon.

 

[EyeofZeus]

I feel a bit bad for the Minotaur. Medusa I like for the sheer terror. Pegasus and the Centaurs are beautiful

 

[fibi ducks]

wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?

 

[Nadai]

wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?

Perhaps it's possible that they all came from her. I know for sure that Pegasus came from Medusa-she was raped by Neptune.
http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/pegasus-winged-horse/

 

[fibi ducks]

yes i remember, in one of Athena's temples wasn't it. So then Athena punished Medusa by making her so ugly - before that she was beautiful i guess. woman's inhumanity to woman. i don't know.

 

[Nadai]

yes i remember, in one of Athena's temples wasn't it. So then Athena punished Medusa by making her so ugly - before that she was beautiful i guess. woman's inhumanity to woman. i don't know.

I think Medusa was described as the most beautiful woman in Athens.
Her sisters were Stheno and Euryale, but she was the most beautiful of the three. They were the daughters of the gods Phorcys and Ceto though, somehow, only Medusa was human, while the other two were immortal. They were all wise and were priestessess of Athena (Medus'a name comes from metis, meaning wisdom).
One day, because of Medusa's beauty, Poseidon saw her and became mad with lust; he went to Athena's temple and raped her. All three sisters became angry and when Athena found out she was as well. Because she was a virgin goddess it was a great sin for Medusa to have been raped and even moreso to have been raped in Athena's own temple. In a rage, Athena turned the sisters into monsters, but because it was Medusa's beauty that had gotten her raped, she made her so hideous that any man who looked upon her would be turned to stone. The sisters became so vicious toward men and took great pleasure in killing them until Persues dispatched the three.
After Medusa lost her head Pegasus leapt from her body (though some interpritations say it was Chrysaor, another winged horse-black I think) and so was born and taken to be raised by the Muses.

 

[Nadai]

wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?

The Furies (Erinyes in Greek) have several origin myths surrounding them. One says that they were born from drops of blood that fell from Uranus after he was castrated by his son Cronus. Another says that they were the daughters of Mother Earth and Darkness, another that they were of Cronus and Eurynome, or Cronus and Night.
Though originally there were an indefinite number of Furies, eventually the Greeks decided that there were three: Tisiphone (the avenger), Megara (the jealous), and Alecto (the unresting).
Despite their negative interactions with humans, the Furies were called Eumenides, kindly ones because of their indulgence when Orest was seeking refuge after his mother’s murder. They are sometimes represented by flies which harass their victims as remorse.
...
At first the Furies were ordered to guard the entrance to Tartarus to make certain that those who entered had atoned for their sins. Those who had not were rejected and had to wander as ghosts or shades(wandereing souls that thirsted, but could not drink, hungered, but could not eat-constantly in pain for eternity). They became better known for their responsibility as punishers of those who offended the Olympians. Their main function was then to torment those who had committed a sin. Though origionally probably reserved for patricides, matricides, and those who broke their oaths, the Furies eventually would come to punish any sin. They would harass and injure their prey but not kill them. They would pursue wrong doers relentlessly, until death, often driving them to suicide. They would extend their torments into the underworld, cruelly lashing the offenders. The sight of them could drive one to madness.

 

[fibi ducks]

The Furies (Erinyes in Greek) have several origin myths surrounding them. One says that they were born from drops of blood that fell from Uranus after he was castrated by his son Cronus. Another says that they were the daughters of Mother Earth and Darkness, another that they were of Cronus and Eurynome, or Cronus and Night.
Though originally there were an indefinite number of Furies, eventually the Greeks decided that there were three: Tisiphone (the avenger), Megara (the jealous), and Alecto (the unresting).
Despite their negative interactions with humans, the Furies were called Eumenides, kindly ones because of their indulgence when Orest was seeking refuge after his mother’s murder. They are sometimes represented by flies which harass their victims as remorse.
...
At first the Furies were ordered to guard the entrance to Tartarus to make certain that those who entered had atoned for their sins. Those who had not were rejected and had to wander as ghosts or shades(wandereing souls that thirsted, but could not drink, hungered, but could not eat-constantly in pain for eternity). They became better known for their responsibility as punishers of those who offended the Olympians. Their main function was then to torment those who had committed a sin. Though origionally probably reserved for patricides, matricides, and those who broke their oaths, the Furies eventually would come to punish any sin. They would harass and injure their prey but not kill them. They would pursue wrong doers relentlessly, until death, often driving them to suicide. They would extend their torments into the underworld, cruelly lashing the offenders. The sight of them could drive one to madness.

so they weren't from medusa then. it does seem it would have been right for them to have been from medusa - after the horrible and unfair story of her rape and punishment for it, giving birth to vengeful spirits would seem quite right.
my views are definitely coloured by robert graves - as that's where i got an introduction to the myths from. so maybe that's where i get an idea of the furies. anyway, i think of them as being concerned with punishing rape and matricide primarily, and leaving such crimes as theft and manslaughter to the jurisdiction of others. i didn't know that they had let orestes off the hook in the end. what did he have to do to satisfy them? i also think of them as being older than the olympians. and that the name 'eumenides' is a euphamism - used so as not to summon them by mentioning their true names. like hades is sometimes called 'the general' or 'the wealthy one'.

i have mixed feelings about Uranos' castration. clearly he was no good as a dad. but wasn't his time the golden age for humans? when we lived without work and didn't die but just fell asleep ? i don't know if it was the dethronement of Uranos that also brought the golden age to an end. but if it was then for us down here perhaps it would have been better if he'd stayed -even with such a bad private life in his own family.

i never read the story of orestes. i know more or less the background story - the murder of agamemnon. i like reading to old plays so i might go from there. i'm not sure if there's one that covers his whole story though.
bye then, FD

 

[Nadai]

so they weren't from medusa then. it does seem it would have been right for them to have been from medusa - after the horrible and unfair story of her rape and punishment for it, giving birth to vengeful spirits would seem quite right.
my views are definitely coloured by robert graves - as that's where i got an introduction to the myths from. so maybe that's where i get an idea of the furies. anyway, i think of them as being concerned with punishing rape and matricide primarily, and leaving such crimes as theft and manslaughter to the jurisdiction of others. i didn't know that they had let orestes off the hook in the end. what did he have to do to satisfy them? i also think of them as being older than the olympians. and that the name 'eumenides' is a euphamism - used so as not to summon them by mentioning their true names. like hades is sometimes called 'the general' or 'the wealthy one'.

i have mixed feelings about Uranos' castration. clearly he was no good as a dad. but wasn't his time the golden age for humans? when we lived without work and didn't die but just fell asleep ? i don't know if it was the dethronement of Uranos that also brought the golden age to an end. but if it was then for us down here perhaps it would have been better if he'd stayed -even with such a bad private life in his own family.

i never read the story of orestes. i know more or less the background story - the murder of agamemnon. i like reading to old plays so i might go from there. i'm not sure if there's one that covers his whole story though.
bye then, FD

I'm not sure what Orest did to warrant their kindness, perhaps they simply pittied him because of his mother's death.
Hades is called the wealthy one because that is the translation of his roman name Pluto. He was so named Pluto because he was the god that ruled the underworld and all of its wealth, meaning the metal found underground as well as jewels. Also because, in the end, he would have the largest kingdom.
...
I feel that Cronus was a much better father than his son. Cronus acted in the way that he did because he knew that his son would take his throne. But Zeus could be blamed for the same crime several times over. He had the virgin goddess Thetis raped because he knew that her son would rule over his father's domain, meaning that if he was born to a human he would rule over humans, but if he was born to a god he would rule over the gods. So as to avoid being ruled by the son of Thetis he had her raped by a mortal man. He swallowed his first wife Metis (Titan goddess of wisom) because he was told that her child would have wisdom that reached beyond her father. At least Cronus ate his children to avoid being killed-Zeus ate his pregnant wife because he wanted to be the wisest!
Cronus did rule over the Golden Age. It was the best of the ages obviously, but when Zeus took the throne he destroyed the Golden Age and created his own, new race of man. He wanted to create the perfect world, one better than his fathers. When he saw that man of the Silver Age was worse than the first he created another (Bronze) and another (Heroes) until we of the Iron Age were created, the worst yet.

 

[fibi ducks]

when Zeus took the throne he destroyed the Golden Age and created his own, new race of man. He wanted to create the perfect world, one better than his fathers. When he saw that man of the Silver Age was worse than the first he created another (Bronze) and another (Heroes) until we of the Iron Age were created, the worst yet.

a real duffer then. poor show.

 

[Nadai]

wasn't it the furies that came from the drops of medusas blood? it seems more appropriate that whatever came of that blood be very angry. but i think pegasus was also from that body somehow.
i often think of the monotaur when i am trying to deal with modern technology, a big brute in a maze and not enough brain cells to figure it out. are we all minotaurs now? i'm 40 now, maybe its different for younger people?

I couldn't remember at first, but your comment reminds me of Zoolander when Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson learn that the files that they need are on the computer. They couldn't figure out how to turn on the computer so they started pushing buttons, then hitting it, then jumped onto the table and started beating it. Then they were told that the files were "in the computer" so they broke it apart and were confused when they still didn't see them!
I feel like that sometimes with technology, a big ape fumbling around wondering why it won't respond!

 

[mohammad2011]

Pegasus, one of my favorite animal.